In its momentum, after the Hassan II Grand Prix and the Lalla Meriem Grand Prix, the His Majesty King Mohammed VI International Tennis Circuit is now in full season, entering the Morocco Tennis Tour for a seventh edition that some hope will be even more elevated than its predecessors.

This year, it is the ACSA (Cultural and Sports Association of Airports) that has the honour of opening the ball, and who better than the ladies to do so? Indeed, and according to the president of the ACSA, M’Hamed Lhamidi, who, in the name of a model complicity between his club and that of the ASC, dear to President Rmili, held a press briefing on the subject at the latter's headquarters in Maârif, from 18 to 25 May, the ACSA will organise for the fourth time the ITF Women’s Circuit of 25,000 dollars, one of the two women's tournaments out of the six in total that make up the Morocco Tennis Tour.

With no Moroccan woman in the final draw, one must hope for a possible exploit in the qualifying draw (18 and 19 May) from one of our six representatives, and more particularly from the first two ranked Moroccan women, the Cociste Nadia Lalami (1099th ATP ranking) or Fatima-Zohra El Allami (1130th), who will defend the colours of the event's organising club, or, at best, the four wild cards that will be granted by both the FRMT and the ACSA. The other Moroccan players entered in the qualifying draw, namely Camilia Benabdeljalil, Ghita Nassik, Lamiaa Aziz, and Sara Benabdeljalil, will have to measure themselves against girls ranked from 404th place for a supposed place in the final draw, and of which the Romanian Olaru Raluca (216th), well known on our courts for having won an ITF in Rabat in 2006, is the top seed. The only Arab woman among the 20 participants, to which twelve other players will be added (8 qualifiers and 4 wild cards), is the Tunisian Ons Jabeur. The young revelation (18 years old), ranked 273rd, will carry all the hopes of Tunisian and Arab tennis. The tournament is within her reach to win; she has both the qualities and the means.

The boys will follow in the footsteps of this first stage of this seventh edition of the Morocco Tennis Tour from 15 to 22 June in Tangier, the ATP Challenger endowed with 35,000 dollars of the CTT. It is only in September that we will then continue with two tournaments of the same kind, namely that of the TCM of Meknes followed by that of Kenitra (TCK). The girls will break the cycle of their second tournament in October at the RUC, before the last stage reserved for boys takes place in Casablanca for a final on 2 November at the OCC.

These tournaments, it should be remembered, were designed with the main objectives of allowing nationals to glean here and there on the courts of the Kingdom some ATP and WTA points. It is an opportunity that is all the less burdensome in terms of costs for our young girls and boys to seize. It is also an opportunity to professionalise other tennis professions such as refereeing, for example.